Watch These Two Powerful Messages about Storytelling

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Here are two resources that convey a point of view about storytelling in audiovisual fashion.

My friend Karen Dietz turned me on to the 15-minute video, The Arc of Storytelling, noting:

Run, don’t walk to watch this incredibly inspiring video about what we are all searching for in our storytelling.

Even though Bobette Buster is speaking about the entertainment industry, her words are incredibly important to anyone who is crafting and sharing their business stories.

Bobette talks about the most powerful stories (and this applies to our biz stories) being ones showing transformation, becoming fully alive, and offering hope. When we think about stories in marketing/branding we often forget these fundamentals. The majority of ‘business story’ videos I watch these days totally miss these themes and end up being more like digital brochures than real compelling stories that build a growing cadre of loyal customers.

But think about this for businesses: a founding story of an organization is often about being faced with a challenge and overcoming it — that is showing transformation and offering hope to others.

Business stories about people (customers/staff) and the obstacles they’ve overcome + the results produced offer the same messages.

I could go on and on. It’s better to just watch the 15-minute video. Bobette talked 2 years ago at the Storytelling in Organization’s Special Interest Group (SIO SIG) and was masterful. The book The Uses of Enchantment she cites was a textbook in my PhD program. I’m currently reading Inside Story: The Power of the Transformative Arc, and it dovetails nicely with Bobette’s talk. I hope you get inspired and lots of ideas by watching this.

The other is a Prezi slideshow by Peter Fruhmann called Use your narrative space: How to make better use of stories in organisations by collecting, connecting and sharing.

The presentation offers for steps for telling the right organizational story: 1) Listen/Collect, the step Fruhmann spends the most time on; 2) Analyze; 3) Synchronize; and 4) Tell/Connect.

He also proposes a 3D matrix (at left) he calls the Narrative Space of the Organization.

Both of these presentations are worth your while.

Connecting Creativity and Storytelling

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I’ve been interested in the relationship between creativity and storytelling since I began my experimental foray into crafts this past summer.

I further explored the connection in a discussion with Annette Simmons related to her new interest in painting.

I was thus recently interested in an interview Michael Margolis did with Michelle James on Storytelling and the Creative Process. (At this writing, the podcast has been taken down because it had technical issues, but check back to see if it comes back up.) I was able to listen to about half of the interview.

Michelle, who is CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence, notes that the creative process is nonlinear and is about pushing boundaries.

In the portion of the podcast I listened to, I picked up two threads connecting creativity with storytelling:

  • Creative people can expand the limited stories they carry about themselves.
  • Story-based activities can facilitate creative thinking.

A common limited creativity story that creative people carry, James notes, is one in which creativity is split from income-generation, and the creative person is constantly balancing and compromising to reconcile those two sides of the story. The questions James poses include, “How can we create a new, larger story where you can both create and generate income?” and “How can you expand the story to include all the aspects you want?”

That’s one I can certainly relate to. I wish all my income could come from writing this blog, writing books, and working with my hands. I am slowly working on expanding my story.

One way to expand the story, James says, is to accept your current reality, but add something news, such as in the well-known, “Yes, and …” exercise, in which one partner proposes and activity, and the other partner — instead of rejecting it — expands it by saying “Yes, and let’s [do something that goes beyond the activity you proposed.”] Instead of automatically poo-pooing an idea and saying it won’t work, you expand your framework, do something to break your pattern and unstick yourself.

“Be willing to expand beyond what you already know,” James suggests. “Base your story on where your energy is coming from.”

Story-related activities that get creative juices flowing, she says, include those that feature right-brained visual thinking. James suggests anthropomorphizing inanimate objects and giving them a voice, as well as acting out concepts.

In group workshops, James asks participants to tell a 30-second story of their name. Another activity involves telling stories about things participants know to a partner and then looking for “deeper, shadow aspects,” such as beliefs, stories, and assumptions. Especially in organizations, the question then becomes, “What new story do we want to move into?”

A very quick glimpse at the articles on Michelle’s site doesn’t reveal a whole lot about story, but inspiration for creative people is plentiful.

Oh, and a little update on my creative pursuits: I wussed out of having a sale of my creations this fall. The date I planned for the sale sneaked up on me and just felt a little too real. Yes, I had a tiny fear that people would regard my handiwork as crap, but the bigger part of backing out was a practical view that a sale would be more successful in the spring. I’ll also now see how it feels not to have this creative outlet during the colder months.

Newest Resource in the ‘What Is a Story?’ Conversation

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My friends Karen Dietz and Lori Silverman have just developed a nice, free resource — a seven-page handout, Narrative Forms and Stories: Narrative Forms Chart, which you can download from here.

The question of what is and isn’t a story has been a particularly hot topic among practitioners in the past year or so, and this resource enriches that conversation. The piece discusses the full story, anecdote, case study, description, example, news report, profile, scenario, testimonial, and vignette. Here’s the intro:

Not every narrative is a story. … Several [narrative forms] are often mistaken for stories. The examples of how a story changes into a non-story, or a particular type of story, are in the following pages…

When Place Take Center Stage in the Story

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Novelist Jess Walter has spent most of his life in Spokane, WA, and a lot of that time wanting to leave.

He expresses his ambivalence about Spokane in a cleverly written piece, “Statistical Abstract for My Hometown, Spokane, Washington,” which mixes Spokane fun facts with pathos-filled anecdotes about life in that city. The piece, published in McSweeney’s Quarterly 37, does not seem to be available online, but you can get a little of the flavor of it in a blog post by Luke Baumgarten.

Walter read “Statistical Abstract for My Hometown, Spokane, Washington” during a talk at a library about an hour away from me (in fact, a town between here and Spokane) last night. The author utterly charmed the audience with his storytelling.

I had read just one of his novels, Citizen Vince, which I gave only a grade of B because I don’t really enjoy stories about the mob, and [SPOILER ALERT] the book includes a gratuitous and brutal dog killing. But I certainly recognize Walter’s superlative writing ability and humor and would love to read more of his work.

In addition to Citizen Vince, Spokane has been the setting for a couple of Walter’s other novels and several of his short stories. His love/hate relationship with Spokane clearly is important to his storytelling.

On the drive to and from Walter’s presentation, my husband and I appreciated, as we do just about every waking moment, the beauty of the Eastern Washington scenery.

I feel completely inadequate as a writer because I have never been able to convey the meaning, power, transformative quality, and wonder of having found this glorious place to live three years ago this week. We were coming out of a rough time in our lives, and this place was exactly the medicine we needed to heal us. We know it will sustain our souls for the rest of our lives. Like Jess Walter, we know on a profound level what it’s like for a place to become such an important component in one’s story.

Will New Facebook Profile Really Tell the Story of Our Lives?

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This week saw lots of buzz over the new Facebook profile timeline, which will be rolled out to users on the 29th. I couldn’t help loving the emphasis on story, as in the tagline “Tell your life story with a new kind of profile” on Facebook’s page about Timeline.

The story focus does raise questions, though, especially for story purists. Will the content in people’s timeline’s really tell their stories? And my friend Stephanie West Allen raised the question, “Is Facebook writing our memoirs for us?”

Of course I couldn’t really offer an opinion on either question without experiencing Timeline for myself, so I deployed the quasi-hack that Facebook developers can use to get Timeline a little early. Below you can see a screenshot of mine (I have Timeline now, but it’s visible only to me until the rollout on the 29th).

Does Timeline really tell my story? I’ve always contended that we tell fragments of stories in social media, but they are largely incomplete and unconnected. Dr. Ananda Mitra, social media expert and Chair of the Communication Department at Wake Forest University, calls these fragments “narbs,” for “narrative bits.” Timeline, I believe, does move a bit closer to connecting the fragments by organizing content nicely and attractively. The story will always be incomplete because we will always have parts of the story we are unwilling to share.

I also truly love the fact that I can easily go back to the very beginning of my Facebook life. I was an early adopter of Facebook in 2005 because I had an .edu email address, which was required before the venue opened itself up to all users in 2006. My very first activity was in September 2005. With Timeline, I can easily relive memories — at least Facebook memories — from six years ago to today.

Which brings us to Stephanie’s question. For the most part, we choose the content that appears on our own profiles. Facebook is not writing my memoir, but Timeline would be an awesome tool and memory jog if I were writing my memoir.

Regrettably, I don’t keep a journal. When I first started using the Internet in 1993, thought of the emails I sent to my best friend as journaling. Today, we email much less, and I journal to a small extent through Facebook. Those emails — if I still had them all — would provide much more depth of detail and emotion as fodder for my memoir, but I still believe Facebook’s timeline would be a terrific tool for remembering and reconstructing should I ever choose to.

It’s true that I am disinclined to criticize Facebook much. The platform’s frequent changes bother only marginally. I am the first to admit that Facebook is a big part of my online life. While I think the “Tell your life story” claim may be a bit overblown, I am hardly inclined to complain about the recognition of the importance of our stories.

Job-Search Storytelling Workbook Is Here!

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I have met my self-imposed deadline to complete Tell Me MORE About Yourself: A Workbook to Develop Better Job-Search Communication through Storytelling by today. (The plan was to offer it by the end of summer; I settled for the first day of fall.)

You can check out the table of contents here: TellMeMoreContents.pdf

I’m selling the workbook for the low, low, low, low price of $2.99 (!!!) through Google Checkout. Here’s the link.

The workbook is intended as a companion to my 2009 book, Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career. It is both an update and extension of that book.

In the time since Tell Me About Yourself was published, I’ve learned an enormous amount and gained many new ideas and insights (most of them reported here in this blog) about using story in job search and career from colleagues in the storytelling, career, and marketing sectors. This workbook offers a way to expand on the ideas and concepts of Tell Me About Yourself.

The workbook also provides a way for users to implement the ideas and concepts in a practical, hands-on way. Since Tell Me About Yourself was published, readers have asked such questions as:

  • How do you tell a good story in the job search?
  • How do you find your stories?
  • How can my stories have the most impact?

Thus, this workbook is intended as the nitty-gritty how-to that goes beyond the concepts and examples in Tell Me About Yourself.

Do you need to have read Tell Me About Yourself to benefit from the workbook? I would recommend it so you understand the principles and benefits of storytelling in the job search. But you don’t necessarily have to buy a copy. A free earlier edition is online. Anytime I refer users to Tell Me About Yourself in the workbook, I give the page numbers from the print edition and the Web address of the online edition.

The workbook follows some of the content of Tell Me About Yourself closely, especially in story development, resumes, cover letters, and interviewing. I felt the content of Tell Me About Yourself was largely sufficient in explaining story concepts in areas such as networking, personal branding, portfolios, and workplace storytelling; thus, the workbook touches on them only briefly or not at all.

The workbook also adds a new content area that was not in Tell Me About Yourself at all. The entire first chapter is devoted to using story to help users determine a career path.

Q&A with a Story Guru: Jane Freese: Liberals Need Better Stories to Market their Ideas

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See a photo of Jane, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Q&A with Jane Freese, Question 5:

Q: If you could identify a person or organization who desperately needs to tell a better story, who or what would it be?

A: Political liberals need better stories to market their ideas. Conservatives can frame their arguments within a context of what is already known and accepted. Progressives have a greater challenge in that change targets the unknown and the unknown is frightening. Cognitive linguist George Lakoff founded the liberal think tank, the Rockridge Institute, as a way to study and advance liberal ideas through framing — use of stories and metaphors. Sadly, the institute closed in 2008, but in his book, Thinking Points: Communicating Our American Values and Vision, he discusses how political arguments have an implicit and explicit narrative structure. Presenting a persuasive argument means telling a convincing story replete with heroes and villains.

President Obama won the election largely on the appeal of his personal story and what it said about us as a society. What the president needs now is a winning progressive story that inspires us to change direction. Compromise is rational and doesn’t stir emotions. In his jobs speech on September 8, 2011, President Obama referred to the political position, held my many conservatives, that rugged individualism requires we tell everyone they’re on their own. “[T]hat’s not who we are,” he said. “That is not the story of America.” We are beginning to understand that a great country needs a great story, one that reflects our highest aspirations.

Q&A with a Story Guru: Jane Freese: Storytelling Helps Job-Seekers Create a Full Picture of Who They Are to Employers

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See a photo of Jane, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3.

Q&A with Jane Freese, Question 4:

Q: You recently held your first Telling About Yourself workshop. How did it go, and to what extent will you tweak it for the next time?

A: “Storytelling for Job Seekers” was a confusing title for many since it is an unfamiliar concept. I’ve tweaked the title to simply, “Job Finders Workshop.” The storytelling aspects have surfaced naturally. I’ve discovered that when people talk about themselves they are unaware of the story elements embedded in their narrative. It is useful to repeat back to them, in story form, what they said. I listen to them so they can listen to themselves. Once I explain storytelling and its uses, workshop participants are eager to learn more. They appreciate how storytelling can be used to create a full picture of who they are to potential employers.

In a flooded job market, there are hundreds of applications for one job. Job-seekers need a way to stand out. Personal branding is a way of distilling a person’s story into a few key elements — a mission statement and a tag line. It is the foundation on which to build a strong, memorable, personal brand.

[Image credit: Self portrait as a puzzle by Tony Karp]

Q&A with a Story Guru: Jane Freese: Storytelling is a Wonderful Tool for Making Job Applicants Memorable

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See a photo of Jane, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.

Q&A with Jane Freese, Question 3:

Q: Your discovery of applied storytelling for business and job search sounds a lot like mine in that it came about during an academic program. Can you tell that story and the story of how you developed that knowledge into a workshop?

A: I took a course in storytelling for information professionals through University of North Texas. It was my last semester. I didn’t expect that storytelling could be applied to job seeking. I found, to my surprise, a tremendous amount of information about storytelling in business.

Interviewers want to know who you are. Storytelling is a wonderful tool for making job applicants memorable. Facts can be presented on the resume and application, but the cover letter and interview is a job-seeker’s opportunity to create a more rounded representation of his or her values, experience, and character.

Books by Katharine Hansen, Stephen Denning, Robin Fisher Roffer, and Annette Simmons were helpful in developing the objectives for my workshop. By using examples from the life stories of people such as Nelson Mandela, Harlan Ellison, and Ida B. Wells, to name a few, I advance five storytelling objectives:
Identify emblematic moments for use in telling a story.

  1. The value of using details in storytelling.
  2. The value of being authentic.
  3. Acknowledging lessons learned.
  4. How stories can implicitly reveal a person’s character.